


He Who Fears the Wolf

by brevitas



Series: Learn to Howl [5]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M, Modern AU, Vampire AU, Werewolf AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2013-08-28
Packaged: 2017-12-24 23:16:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/945847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brevitas/pseuds/brevitas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seems that vampirism was not the only cat let out of the bag; Feuilly finds a video of a man describing how to recognize a werewolf from a human and he's surprisingly accurate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Who Fears the Wolf

Grantaire suggests the vampires lay low for a while and the coven agrees. Paranoia is likely to be especially high after the on-air stunt and Eponine informs them that night that the video already has an obscene amount of hits on Youtube, and a comment list longer than her arm. Most of the comments are not pretty and more than a few people have started to call the actor a vampire.

The next five days are fairly uneventful. Everyone keeps track of online activity just to get an idea of it but since the news station still hasn't released a statement and the only other people putting videos of 'vampires' online are easily spotted fakes, the hype begins to die down. Enjolras has hope that this unveiling can be retried.

By necessity the vampires have been taking turns hunting in a much larger city an hour away but they're doing their best to be as unobtrusive as possible; they go in small groups now to minimize the number of victims and are always careful to make it look like a mugging rather than what it is.

Enjolras and Combeferre have just come home, both still hungry. It is difficult to share a person amongst them and not drain it dry; they are all hungry but they do their best to ignore the pangs. The two settle on one of the couches with a polite distance between them, and Enjolras idly watches Gavroche build an extensive Lego castle on the floor.

Feuilly, sitting opposite them on his laptop, suddenly curses loudly. The trio look up at him in unison and he says, "This is bullshit."

He gets up, abandons his computer on the sofa, and disappears outside, dragging Gavroche along with him. A moment later they hear him howling, calling for his alpha. He comes back inside with a lit cigarette and smokes heavily as he waits, pacing a tight circle by the coffee table.

Grantaire lopes in through the back door, fresh from the change. He's barely wearing boxers he snagged from the pile in the kitchen and he's pulling them up with one hand as he enters. His hair is wild and decorated with a few leaves and there's a shallow scratch across his chest. His other wounds have all but healed; the vampires were mystified upon seeing his healing ability, and more than a little envious.

This new injury, however, is still bleeding, and Enjolras feels the obnoxious bump of his fangs against his top lip as soon as he notices. He pinches his mouth and finds Combeferre looking at him with an equally dismayed expression.

"What's up, Feuilly?" Grantaire asks, panting. Feuilly points to the computer.

"Play this video," he says. "You have to see this shit for yourself."

Grantaire takes the computer and then glances at Enjolras and Combeferre. The wolves excel at body language; he doesn't need to say anything for Feuilly to add, "Have them watch it too."

So Grantaire carries the laptop over to them and squeezes in between the vampires. The wolves have noticed that their visitors are all very adverse to touch but apparently Grantaire thinks this video is too important to take care, and Combeferre scoots over as much as possible anyway. Unfortunately this is a short couch and he gives them only a scant inch between their knees, which Grantaire respects by sitting closer to Enjolras. The vampire looks steadily at the computer screen and ignores the open wound that is only a few inches from him.

Grantaire settles the laptop on his knees and hits play. It's a young man addressing the screen, with curly brunette hair and thick-rimmed glasses.

"This is my video 'How to Tell if Your Neighbour is a Werewolf'. If you're more concerned about vampires, try my other video." A link pops up that he graciously points to titled 'How to Tell if Your Neighbour is a Vampire' and Grantaire looks incredulously up at Feuilly, who shakes his head.

"Just wait," he says darkly, exhaling smoke from his nose.

They look back to the computer screen and after a moment the link vanishes and he starts speaking. "So you think someone you know and love is a werewolf. These are probably well-founded beliefs; we suddenly have vampires coming out on national television and with the rash of lycan videos on Youtube you're all no doubt on the edges of your seats.

"Well I am here to tell you that your neighbour may indeed be a werewolf. I have done some studies and I've come up with three tell-tale signs that humans can pass and werewolves cannot."

A large number one hovers over his head and he holds up a finger. "One; werewolves are allergic to silver. Now this is unfortunate as humans can be too, but it's a very good place to start. They develop skin rashes and sometimes even hives."

The one changes to a two and he adds another finger. "Two; to werewolves wolfsbane is an aphrodiasic." Enjolras and Combeferre both look at Grantaire with raised eyebrows and Grantaire laughs.

"It is," he says with a shrug. "We've never really figured out why."

The man on the video says, "Now this is a more dangeorus method of testing, as this aphrodiasic is very powerful. I do not recommend this unless you have your potential lycan already properly restrained. Feed them just a little of this and watch; if they're a lycan they'll start sweating and their eyes will dilate and they'll smell generally musky. This is a definite response; if you see this, you've got a werewolf on your hands."

The man smiles broadly and the two shifts to a three. "Now this is by far the best method; there is absolutely no way a human can accomplish this so if you see this your neighbour is definitely a werewolf. There's no two ways around it."

He lifts up a flashlight and Grantaire says, "Are you fucking serious?" Feuilly nods.

"Shine this in their eyes," the man says, pointing the flashlight at the camera. "You'll see a reflection. Now I'm sure all of you have seen this in documentaries about predators but let me tell you; it's very recognizable. Your werewolf will do his best to avoid letting you see his eyes if only for his reason."

He says, "I have footage of this," and a moment later his face is replaced by a shaky camera in a dark house. There's heavy breathing and a man is tied up in the middle of the room, his face bruised black and blue. One eye is terribly swollen but when he looks up at the cameraman there is the fire of hatred in his gaze.

"Let's see your eyes," someone jeers and a flashlight beam bounces across the floor. It's handed to a young woman, who approaches the man fearlessly. She says, "Lift your head," and he fiercely shakes his head, turning his chin away.

She grabs his jaw and he's surprised enough that he doesn't fight it right away; she has a split second to shine the light in his eyes and there's an instant silver reflection back, betraying to the group exactly what he is.

The video returns to the original man, who's frowning. "After you know you have a werewolf on your hands you must decide what to do with it. I haven't heard of anyone successfully killing one before, so watch your backs." He pauses for a moment then adds, "I do not recommend watching the remainder of that video but I've recieved many messages asking for a link so I'll provide one against my better judgement."

Feuilly glances at them and nods. Grantaire clicks the link and it takes them to another tab, some other video hosting site that apparently has a higher tolerance for gore. It starts playing where the other man had left it; the woman is crowing with delight as she steps back and the werewolf is snapping at them, pulling against the chains they've tied him up with. Grantaire recognizes them as silver and spares a glance for Feuilly, who shakes his head; it must be agony to be sitting there and yet the man had not yelled for fear they would know him for what he is.

The man holding the camera shouts at her to get back and lifts a shotgun into frame. Grantaire is startled but Enjolras only looks grim, and they're all ready for the sound of the shot.

What they get instead is screams. There's a fierce ripping sound and the werewolf sheds his human skin and becomes a wolf, slick with fur and bigger than he'd been before. The chains cannot hope to hold him; they slide away like string and the wolf jumps from his chair with a ferocious howl.

The camera is dropped and the view is sideways but they can still see what happens. The wolf goes through the group and rips them to pieces, killing every single one with his teeth and claws. When the screaming finally peters off and it is only the wolf he swings his huge head to the camera and growls, and they can see that his eyes are the same brown they'd been when he was human. He stands over the camera and his head disappears from sight but it is only a second more until he figures out how to shut it off with his snout.

For a heartbeat they all simply stare at the screen. Feuilly says, "I'm pretty sure there's all sorts of these videos now," and Grantaire stands.

"Call everyone in," he commands. "We need to tell the pack what we've seen."

It takes a little while to assemble the wolves, if only because they'd gone farther on their patrols than ever before; Grantaire was worried about people tracking Enjolras here though he knew it was a far-fetched concern. Either way he'd asked if anybody was interested in going to the very edge of their territory and all the hands in the pack had raised. While no one had said anything, they'd all been oncerned about the same thing. It was better to be paranoid and have an idea of something coming then to be blindly confident.

Either way Feuilly goes out to meet the ones farthest away and Combeferre asks if he can take a walk. Grantaire's blood is incredibly enticing, and he's having a difficult time controlling himself; Combeferre, who is peacable by nature and very generous towards those who donate to him blood, is beginning to wonder what a wolf might taste like.

Grantaire grants him the request (he's certain nobody in his pack will give him a hard time) and only realizes once he's gone that him and Enjolras are alone together. It's almost an unspeakable thing in a place such as this, where people are coming in and out all day.

Enjolras notices this too but he uses the opportunity to talk business, one leader to another. He turns to face Grantaire on the couch and asks, "What are you going to tell your pack?"

"That there's a man out there who knows how to spot us," he says with a shrug. "And that we need to stay close to home until this blows over."

Enjolras nods thoughtfully. "Will the townspeople come for you?" He asks and Grantaire frowns.

"No," he says and he sounds sure of it. "Even if any of them are fool enough to believe a Youtube video about werewolves, we've never done anything to hurt them and neither have our wolf counterparts. In fact we've saved people once or twice who got lost in the woods; I don't think they'll have any desire to murder us."

Enjolras hums. He seems to think about what he's going to say before he remarks, "It doesn't look like the man they tried to shoot with a shotgun had done anything to them either, Grantaire."

+++++

In the heart of their city a woman working at a cash register asks a group of customers, "So what are you boys doing here in Folly City?' The cashier regards them curiously, turning the ax over in her hands in an effort to find the price tag.

The four men exchange looks; she catches the heaviness of their gazes but can't read their identical expressions. "We're going hunting," one finally says, when none of his friends volunteer an answer. "We heard there were a lot of wolves around town."

She narrows her eyes and says disdainfully, "We actually don't hunt them." The wolves do no harm to the locals and not once has she even heard a _rumor_ someone was attacked by the pack.

One of the guys laughs and assures her, "Don't worry, honey--I promise we'll only take one or two."

She shakes her head but says no more on the matter and rings up the rest of their items. It's all something one could expect for hunters and the few things that don't quite fit she makes excuses for; for all she knows the silver chains could be for tying a pelt up and the shotgun shells because they heard the wolves around here are bigger than usual.

She passes them their items and says, "They're really smart wolves. You probably won't even see them."

One of them grins and says, "Don't worry, ma'am; we're good hunters."

**Author's Note:**

> aha finally I get time in between homework to write this! I've missed all you beauties ;3;
> 
> this was requested by ramblingmaenad, anonymous, twice by pbandshelley, kingofherrings, the oneofeverything!anon and the oneofeverythingtoo!anon
> 
> title comes from the quote "he who fears the wolf, should not go to the forest." this is apparently an Estonian saying, according to google? I really liked it so I hope it's legit c:
> 
> tumblr is idfaciendumest, kisses to everybody!


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